Episode # 37: Valerie Frost x Zach Laris
Welcome to our latest edition of WonkCast: People Power Policy.
For this week’s WonkCast, we’re mixing it up with a crossover conversation.
Community In-Site host Valerie Frost invited me on her show to talk about a fundamental question our field has to grapple with; what do we mean by“prevention”?
The term prevention is so pervasive that it can seem like everyone must agree on what matters in child welfare policy.
That covers over that we don’t all mean the same thing when we say it.
Our conversation began with a discussion of the Family First Prevention Services Act and my recent analysis, Family First, Light on Families.
What emerged was an exploration of the way implementation and policy design challenges ultimately point to deeper questions of vision for future policy.
This is a moment where there’s real opportunity to shape the future of child and family policy, but only by first surfacing contestable claims to the vision to do it.
I really enjoyed the chance to sharpen my thinking by talking with Valerie, and I hope it does the same for you.
